Homemade Gifts: Kiwi Crate for the Holidays {Giveaway}

We love homemade gifts, so when Kiwi Crate recently asked me if my 4-year old would like to try one of the newest Holiday crates from their Celebration Shop, guess what I said? Yes please!

We’re giving away three of these Holiday Crates, and you’ll have a chance to win one at the end of this post!

They sent us a crate called Gifts Made by Me, and given the quality of this crate, I’m sure that the other two holiday crates, Crafty Christmas and Handmade Hanukkah, are just as fabulous.

As you probably know, I’m a DIY gal and rarely gravitate to pre-packaged activities. But here’s the difference with Kiwi Crate: although the package everything up for the busy parent, they don’t skimp on the quality of the materials and the projects in this crate value the process as much as the product.

But this isn’t just my opinion…my 4-year old worked on these gifts for three days and kept talking about them. We work on a lot of homemade projects in our home, and her engagement with this crate speaks volumes of the how thoughtfully these materials were assembled.

When the package arrived, N was itching to rip it open. I had a plan in my mind that we’d save it for later in the week, but I had a hard time curbing her enthusiasm. I told her that we could open the crate, look it over, and then save it for the next day. That sort of backfired because opening the crate only got her more excited.

She quickly assessed that the crate contained materials for making homemade gifts (two high quality notebooks that she would make prints for, plus all the wrapping materials we’d need)– which she already decided were destined for her grandparents, and we were off to the races.

The first thing we did was set up a mini-printing studio, and Kiwi Crate sent all the materials to make this successful and mitigate the mess.

I appreciated this because printmaking, when done right (with real printing inks, as included in the crate), can be a huge mess. Instead, it was all contained on the craft paper, cotton swabs, brayer, and thin sheet of plastic that we taped to the paper. It was a clever set-up that I’ll be sure to replicate next time we pull out the ink and brayers.

The crate also came with a really nice brayer (the tool you see back there that rolls the ink onto the plate), which I’m excited to add to our brayer collection.

I only had a couple issues with the crate, but they’re not deal-breakers. The ink took a few days to dry, which I’d attest to the summery weather we’ve been having. And the snowflake stickers that we used to make our own stamps didn’t hold their shape too well. But my 4-year old didn’t mind one bit, and the smudginess of our snowflakes added to the homemade charm of her gifts.

When she was done, she created two notebooks, two cards, and hand-printed ribbon. Gorgeous!

The best part? It’s only the beginning of November and my 4-year old already made her grandparents their holiday gifts: homemade notebooks that she’s proud of.

Enter the Giveaway

Kiwi Crate is giving away 3 Crates like the one I reviewed: Gifts Made By Me. Prizes can only be shipped to U.S. mailing addresses. The contest will close on November 18, 2012 at 11:59 EST. a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’m an advisor to Kiwi Crate and they sent me a free crate to review, but all opinions in this review are my own. This post may also contain affiliate links.

This looks so much fun, love the ribbon! I always wanted to try print making, but just haven’t gotten the chance to organize the activity. Yap, my husband almost apply for a job there at kiwi crate. We will be very lucky if we get one to try out. Thanks for the chance